Official Introduction

[brianjwilson]

Well I've been sort of a lurker here for a while with my Ranger, but I just picked up an 05 sport trac a few days ago, so I thought I would introduce myself.
I've been over at offroadrangers.com for a few years with my 98 Ranger.
The ranger is an XLT Supercab 4x4 4.0L manual tranny with a 3" body lift, TT, shackles, bilstiens, manual hubs, moog upper and lower balljoints and tierod ends, custom bumper, canopy, 15x8's and 33x12.50's. She has been a great truck (140k miles now) and now I'm replacing her with the Sport Trac. I'll be very said to see the Ranger go away.
My wife drives a 97 Explorer XLT 4.0L 4x4 auto, fully loaded on 31x10.50's with around 107k miles on it.
The Sport Trac is a 2005 XLT 4x4, standard options (cloth, a/c, cd, tilt, cruise, power stuff, fog lights). All I have done so far is install a Pioneer CD/mp3 player, and tint the windows (13% driver and passenger, 6% everything behind that). My plans are a 3" bodylift (was supposed to arrive today) with 33x12.50's on 15x8's, 4.56 gears with a locker perhaps, and an xcal2 from doug and bama or rouge performance.
My wife and I live outside the Portland Oregon area. She's finishing up her bachelor in Psychology and I'm a helicopter flight instructor. I like to tinker with stuff (wiring and radios too) and makes my trucks/bikes a little different from the others around. I look forward to picking up new ideas from the people on here and sharing some of my own. Let me share a few pictures of our trucks...


A few older ranger pictures;

These wheels/tires are going on the sport trac soon

The 97 Explorer; (now has M/T's)

And finally the new (to me) Sport Trac;

 

[JohnnyO]

Welcome aboard! Looks like mine.
I got my Trac after having a 2002 Ranger, first thing I noticed was how much better the seats are in the Trac.
Good luck with the mods.
The body lift will require you to either remove the front tow hooks or cut (ugly) notches in the valance to fit them.
I have listed the part numbers for the fuel tank skidplate in another thread if you want one.
If yours has the half front fender liners it is possible to order the full ones from Ford, they don't cost too much and it might take as long as 10 minutes to install them.
Sounds like you go 'froading.
Buy new shocks immediately. Stockers are way too soft.
I am JohnnyO on www.mysporttrac.com and www.therangerstation.com also.

 

[Tbars4]

...welcome here brian, i would know that snow picture anywhere...

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Welcome!

Nice Pictures, good tire choices.

I see that yop plan to put 15's on the Sport Trac- just a warning, they may or may not fit over the larger rotors that are on sport trac's.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Oh, where did you get the bumper on the Ranger?

 

[brianjwilson]

Hey JohnnyO,
I'm aware of the tow hooks, it was the same on the ranger. I came across the fuel tank skidplate numbers somewhere, I thought about seeing if the ranger plate would fit but haven't yet. I noticed that the front fender liners suck, and I was junkyarding today and saw an explorer with the full liner and totally spaced it when I walked past. No problem though, I'll just get larger "gap guards" for the body lift.
I was looking for a full length center console and an overhead console but everything at the yard had been destroyed already it seemed. I did, however, pick up an (underhood) power distribution box from an Explorer so I could add all my electric accessories in their own box complete with seperate fuses and relays. This way, if I add an aux battery later it only requires one main cable to the added power box and everything runs off the aux battery. Should make for a nice clean install too
I plan on replacing the shocks, probably going to wait a little for now. I used bilstien heavy duty replacements on the ranger and liked them mostly, except the lack of dampening on extension (easily topped out). I think I'm going to hold of on shocks for now, and buy pin top bilstien 7100's with reserviors and custom lower mounts from camburg, with limit straps. Maybe 5150's in the rear. I might also look for a better way to mount the shocks in the rear so they aren't mounted so close to the ground.
I'm going to order warrior shackles and front and rear swaybar disco's too. I have been unbolting the swaybars on the ranger but I want quick disconnects this time around...

Howdy Tbars

MountaineerGreen,
I love these tires so far, can't wait to get them on the sport trac soon. I'm also away of the issue with the 15" wheels. I _think_ my 15x8's will fit over the calipers but I'm going to try one on soon, just to make sure. If not, I'll either get small (3/8") wheel spacers on the front or replace the rotors with smaller ones.
The bumper was custom made by a guy up in seattle, badlandbumpers.com
He mostly just does yota stuff, though I do really like the bumper. Wish I could put it on the sport trac but I'm not going to mess with it since the grill and bumper are connected. Some day maybe I'll remove the lower valance and do a "half" bumper with a 2" receiver, shackles and a skidplate...
Thanks for the welcome

 

[brianjwilson]

Here's a quick sample
No body lift yet, just a test fit for the wheels

 

[MountaineerGreen]

FYI, You can probably run those 33's with no BL, just a TT and shackles. The sport trac fenders are larger allowing more generous tires.

 

[brianjwilson]

FYI, You can probably run those 33's with no BL, just a TT and shackles. The sport trac fenders are larger allowing more generous tires.

A torsion crank isn't going to allow larger tires. The suspension will still compress to the same spot
And I tried turning the steering wheel with that 33 on, and it just tried to push the bumper off the front, lol. I think a 33x10.50 would fit on a stock wheel but the wider tire and wheel makes it a no go.
My original plan was to forget about a body lift and use 3" fiberglass fenders with shackles in the rear, but I wanted a little extra height.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Well, there is a guy running a 4" superlift and 35's on a ST and they clear fine. But, I think he has a different bumper

And, if the bars are cranked, it won't compress as far.

 

[brianjwilson]

I believe it. The tires with the 4" lift are moved far enough away from the fender that I'd expect 35's would fit. I could probably fit the 33's if I trimmed away at the bumper and fenders liners and stuff, but it would be close. The torsion bars on my ranger are cranked a bit and it still compresses to the bumpstop (always has clean spots on the LCA), mostly when the swaybar is connected. I want the suspension to have as much travel as possible, last thing I want to do is limit the travel to clear the tires, if you know what I mean.
I could fit 35's on my ranger with just the body lift if I wanted, and probably on the sport trac also, but I don't want 35's (I like my cv joints intact).

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I understand completely about the CV's. I never have been able to fully compress my torsion bars when cranked- I guess different spring rates make that difference.

 

[brianjwilson]

I understand completely about the CV's. I never have been able to fully compress my torsion bars when cranked- I guess different spring rates make that difference.

Suppose so, though that is surprising to hear...
You ever disconnect the front swaybar?
By the way, is your Aussie locker in the front or rear? And how do you like it?
My roommate has a detroit and it's really clunky and jerky, even at idle it can be a bear. I'm not sure if it is because of the install or that is really how the detroit is. It is in a lifted Wrangler though, could be part of the reason.
I'm planning on locking the rear, and maybe down the road I'll put a limited slip up front (if Rick gets the torsen unit going). Went shooting today, first time driving a 4x4 in on gravel roads without a limited slip, absolutely pathetic I tell you! Wouldn't grab traction at all.

 

[jah81592]

I really like the Cooper tires you have. Those babies are aggressive looking. I have some Coopers on my Ex, not mudders, they are the Zeons. Must be me but I really like the way the Cooper tires look.

 

[Jeffksf]

I think I've seen that truck somwhere else
Welcome

 

[brianjwilson]

Hey Jeff



Just placed an order for warrior shackles, front and rear sway bar disconnects, and gap guards.
Cheapest quote I got for re-gearing was $1238...
So I think I'll see how the 4.10's do for a bit, lol. Probably going to order an Aussie locker for the rear and (just maybe) order the camburg shock upgrade. I got a call yesterday from them, $499 for the bilstien 7100's, lower shock mounts and limit straps. Bob tells me it's a fair deal because building your own lower shock mounts and fitting them right is a bit of a PITA. I've contemplated relocating the rear upper shock mounts (with the body lift) to fit a longer shock, but I think I'll weight and see what the rear travel ends up with the shackle installed and shocks removed.

 

[Gay-briel]

hey Brian, welcome over

nice to see the trac plans are coming along...



Keep it up man!

 

[dkchrist]

very nice sport trac. i really like the ranger bumper and the ranger in general. welcome (kinda)

 

[brianjwilson]

very nice sport trac. i really like the ranger bumper and the ranger in general. welcome (kinda)

Thanks for the welcome!
Want to buy the Ranger? lol. I really like it too . . .
I drove it to work today, I don't want to sell it, but I had someone front me $2000 for a down payment, and I need to sell the Ranger to pay it back, and pay for the new stuff I've already ordered, hah

 

[Tbars4]

...what.. the ranger is for sale???? ...post it in the for sale section here as a feeler just maybe for sale...:scratch:

...btw, i was thinking about you and the new san diego pilot as they were running ads on the radio this morning for helicopter pilot training, pay for school afterwards and guaranteed job starting 50k-100k...